Persimmon

March 4, 2017

I just bought a 3 gallon Fuyu Persimmon tree and know nothing about pruning fruit
trees. I've read about 3 different pruning shapes: open vase, central leader, and
modified central leader. Can you recommend one over the others? Also, some sources
suggest cutting the top of the tree off when planting at 36" to encourage branching.
Would you recommend that? If I just left the tree alone to grow the way it wants
to, would it be a taller tree?

When a fruit tree is young is the best time to build branch structure. With persimmons
they typically have a more rounded growth habit, with a full body of branches, with
more of a modified central leader type of growth. The main thing I would do the first
few years is to make sure you have ample space between the branches you are leaving
and letting it get some size. Fuyu is a self-fruitful variety so you don’t need another
for cross-pollination.

December 2014

My persimmon tree did not fruit this year. I have two males and one female Persimmon
all in close proximity to each other and even in the severe drought years, we had
fruit --- lots of it. All my other trees, especially my Walnut, over-produced this
year. I have talked with several other folks who have Persimmons and all but one
have said the same thing … the one exception said he had fruit, but very, very little
and also found that strange. What gives?

I don’t have a good answer. I have seen trees loaded with persimmons across the state
this year. I will make some guesses. Did you have an exceptionally heavy crop last
year? Persimmons can go through what is known as alternate bearing—a heavy crop one
year and little to none the next. It is also possible your tree got hit by a late
frost which could have damaged the blooms. Not much can be done at this point, but
let’s hope for a better year next year.

July 2008

I planted a persimmon tree 4 years ago and it has become needier than I bargained
for. I bought it from an online catalogue, which claimed it was a Japanese persimmon
grafted onto American rootstock for disease resistance. It is now 5 feet tall, and
growing well, but every summer the leaves become discolored with brownish black networks,
and also infested with insects that make a powdery white cocoon and hatch out tiny
crawling young. I spray for insects and fungus, which seems to help, but I would
like to garden with fewer toxic chemicals. Any management suggestions? I'm tempted
to cut the whole thing down and put a banana tree in its place. It has not yet flowered
much less made the brilliant orange fruit that made it look so desirable in the first
place.

Oriental persimmons typically have few, if any, pest problems. Grafting them onto
native persimmons is more for winter hardiness than disease resistance, since they
rarely are bothered by disease. I consider them a low maintenance tree. Some varieties
are self-fruitful while others do need another tree to cross pollinate with. Usually
oriental persimmons are 4-6 years old before they start to bear fruit, and once they
do, they should do so annually, although a heavy load one year, may lighten the load
the next. The fruits are very showy. As to cutting it down and planting a banana,
keep in mind that bananas are moderately winter hardy in central Arkansas and die
completely back to the ground each winter if left outdoors, so you will never get
fruit on them. Be patient and see what happens.

All links to external sites open in a new window. You may return to the University
of Arkansas Division of Agriculture web site by closing this window when you are finished.
We do not guarantee the accuracy of the information, or the accessibility for people
with disabilities listed at any external site.

Links to commercial sites are provided for information and convenience only. Inclusion
of sites does not imply University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture's approval
of their product or service to the exclusion of others that may be similar, nor does
it guarantee or warrant the standard of the products or service offered.

The mention of any commercial product in this web site does not imply its endorsement
by the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture over other products not named,
nor does the omission imply that they are not satisfactory.